New Delhi/Islamabad: Pakistan Foreign Ministry has said that there will be no second consular access for Kulbhushan Jadhav. The ministry spokesperson, Mohammad Faisal, said, "There is no other meeting." India's response is still awaited on the latest development.
India on September 2 got the first consular access to Jadhav when India's Deputy High Commissioner Gaurav Ahluwalia met him at a sub-jail for two hours. The Indian diplomat found Jadhav under 'extreme pressure to parrot a false narrative to bolster Pakistan's untenable claims', according to a release issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
MEA in its release had said, "Consular access is a part of the binding obligations of Pakistan, as ordered by the ICJ, to ensure effective review and reconsideration of the conviction and sentence awarded to Jadhav through a farcical process."
The Pakistani foreign ministry had said that the meeting happened in the 'presence of officials of Government of Pakistan' and while there was 'no restriction on the language of communication', the entire meet was recorded and this was conveyed to the Indian side.
A comprehensive report was sent by the Indian Mission in Islamabad to the MEA and on the basis of the report by Indian DHC Ahluwalia, New Delhi will determine the next course of action and if the meet conformed to the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) directive.
The Pakistani proposal for consular access for Jadhav came after New Delhi got a major diplomatic victory at the ICJ on July 17. The world court had asked Pakstan to 'provide Indian consular officers access to him in accordance with Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.' New Delhi had called on Islamabad to provide full consular access in an 'environment free from the fear of intimidation and reprisal, in the light of the orders of the international court of justice(ICJ).'
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had spoken to Jadhav's mother and briefed her about the developments.
India maintains that Jadhav was abducted by Pakistani agencies from Iran, and New Delhi was first informed about his custody by Pakistani authorities on March 25, 2016, after which in 2017, Islamabad announced that military has awarded death sentence to him.
(Additional reporting by Anas Mallick in Islamabad)
